


Arms Unfolding

by superqueerdanvers



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: (sort of. it's a hellhound that was attacking them), Animal Death, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Injury, Love Confessions, Post-The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson), Reconciliation, adora is a child of zeus, catra is a daughter of nemesis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24401077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superqueerdanvers/pseuds/superqueerdanvers
Summary: It's a few days after the Battle of Manhattan, and Catra, a child of Nemesis who sided with Luke, doesn't feel welcome at Camp Half Blood. She tries to sneak out in the middle of the night, but Adora, daughter of Zeus and the "half-blood of the eldest gods" who defeated Kronos, comes after her.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 92





	Arms Unfolding

Catra winced and adjusted her backpack straps so they didn’t dig into her bandages. She took one last look at Camp Half Blood, dimly lit by moonlight, then headed down Half Blood Hill away from camp. She’d been walking along the empty road for a few minutes when a familiar voice called out, “Catra! Wait!”

Catra folded her arms and walked faster.

“Catra!” Adora jogged up to her, her shield slung over her back.

Catra kept walking, staring straight ahead.

“What, no ‘Hey, Adora?’”

Catra growled quietly.

“Where are you going?” Adora asked.

“Away.”

“Away where?”

“Anywhere.”

Adora stopped in the road, and against her better judgement, Catra stopped too. “Why are you leaving camp?” Adora asked.

“Why do you care?”

“Why wouldn’t I care?” Adora was taken aback. “You’re my friend.”

Catra rolled her eyes and started walking again. “I’m a traitor. You don’t want me there.”

Adora kept pace with her. “That’s not true!”

“Yes, it is. You think I don’t see how people look at me? Even flower princess Perfuma has been giving me dirty looks.” She sighed. “Everyone’ll be happier if I leave.”

“Fine.”

“Fine?” Catra hadn’t expected it to be that easy.

“Fine. But I’m coming with you.”

“Adora, no—“

“You want to leave camp? Fine. But I don’t want to lose you. It’s a perfect solution.” She lifted her chin defiantly, and the corner of her mouth quirked upward into a smile.

“No – that’s not – Adora, you have _friends_ at camp! You’re the gods-damn chosen one, the hero who defeated Kronos and saved Olympus! Go back and enjoy it!”

“No.” Adora kept pace with her.

A low growl came from the woods to the side of the road. Catra froze, her hand on the hilt of her sword. “Did you hear that?”

Adora rolled her eyes. “You’re not going to scare me into—“

Catra clapped a hand over her mouth. “Shhh! Listen.”

There was another growl, and an enormous hellhound stepped out of the woods. Catra drew her sword, and Adora unslung her shield. They may have spent the past year and a half on opposite sides of a war, but they had spent seven years fighting side by side first. They knew how to fight together. “You go right, I go left?” Catra asked, already moving.

Adora hesitated. “Uh, about that…”

Catra attacked the hellhound’s side, but it turned and bit at her. She jumped back. “What?” she snapped.

Adora picked up a fallen branch -- a big stick, really – from the side of the road. “I don’t have a sword.” She smacked the hellhound with the stick.

“You WHAT?! Why not?” Catra yelled.

As the hellhound snarled and turned to attack Adora, Catra slashed at its shoulder. Adora dodged its teeth. “I broke my sword fighting Kronos and I haven’t found a new one!”

“ _Adora!_ ” Catra screamed in frustration. “Fine. Go back to camp – I’ll handle this on my own!”

Catra stabbed at the hellhound’s haunches, but it jumped out of the way and swiped at her with a massive paw. She dodged it nimbly.

“I’m not leaving you!” Adora cried.

Adora pointed her stick at the hellhound, and Catra realized she must have been trying to summon lightning, but nothing happened. The stick was wood, not metal. It wouldn’t conduct electricity like her sword had.

The hellhound lunged towards Catra, and she jumped back – and realized too late that she was at the edge of the road. Instead of level ground, her feet met the edge of a ditch. She fell backwards. Pain lanced through her shoulder and arm as the impact reopened her half-healed wounds from the Battle of Manhattan. The hellhound towered over her. Its hot breath reeked of rotten meat, and slimy drool dripped onto her cheek. Then she heard a muffled thump and a clatter like metal on asphalt, and the hellhound turned around. It snarled and leapt away from Catra and the ditch.

She sat up, wincing, and saw Adora’s shield on the side of the road. Adora herself was across the street, doing her best to parry the hellhound’s attacks with her stick. As Catra watched, the hellhound caught the stick in its teeth and snapped it in half. It clawed at Adora, and she fell backwards. Catra charged.

Holding her sword with her good hand, she drove the blade deep into the hellhound’s haunches, and it exploded into pale dust. Catra ran to Adora’s side. A dark stain was spreading across her stomach. “Gods, Adora…” Catra whispered.

“I’m okay,” Adora mumbled.

She tried to sit up, then grimaced and fell back, panting. She clenched her jaw and tried again, but Catra gently pushed her back down. “Stay there. I have some ambrosia in my bag.”

Catra took off her backpack stiffly and opened it. The ambrosia was smooshed, but still edible. She handed Adora a piece, and ate one herself, sighing with relief as she felt her wounds close. “Did you _throw_ your shield at the hellhound?”

Adora looked sheepish. “It worked for Captain America…”

“You’re such an idiot.” Catra rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help smiling a little. Then she shook her head. “The bleeding seems to have stopped, but you’re still hurt. You need to go back to camp.”

Adora took her hand. “Come with me.”

“Well, it’s not like you can walk there on your own. But I’m not staying.” She helped Adora sit up, then grabbed her backpack and nodded at the deep cuts on Adora’s belly. “We should put some bandages on those, in case you start bleeding again we start walking.”

She dug through her bag. Why hadn’t she thought to pack bandages?

“Seriously?” Adora said. “I just saved your life, and you still want to leave?”

Catra dropped her backpack. “ _You_ saved _my_ life?”

“That hellhound would’ve eaten you if I hadn’t thrown my shield and distracted it!”

“It would’ve ripped you to shreds if I hadn’t killed it!” Catra countered.

“That’s my point! Half-bloods shouldn’t be alone! It’s dangerous!”

“Better than being constantly ostracized at camp!” Catra snapped.

“Well, fine! Just…go, then, if you hate camp so much!” Adora retorted.

“I don’t hate camp,” Catra said quietly. “Not really. That’s not what this is about – it’s not what any of it was about.”

She looked away, rummaging in her backpack again. She pulled out a flannel shirt. She hated to ruin it, but she didn’t have anything else to use as a bandage.

“Then… why? What was it about?” Adora asked.

“The gods, mostly,” Catra said, folding the flannel into a long rectangle she could tie around Adora’s abdomen. “How they treated – how they _still_ treat—us. Adora, we spent _years_ crammed into the Hermes cabin, waiting to be claimed –“

“But that’s different now! The gods are claiming all their children!”

Catra scoffed. “Because you made them. They _literally_ tried to make you a god before even _considering_ claiming their kids. Zeus only claimed you because you’d summoned lightning and everybody’d already figured out you were his kid. Nemesis only claimed me because of you. And then they still have the nerve to expect us to honor them?!”

“Catra…” Adora said softly.

“ _Adora_ ,” Catra mocked. “Come on, you burn your food for them, and for what? The chance to fight their battles, to die for them?” Her voice broke. “Who put them in charge, anyway?”

“Do you really think the titans would have been any better?”

“At least they would have been different. Sit up so I can tie this around you.” Once Catra was satisfied with the makeshift bandage, she continued. “Why did you support the gods?”

Adora had to stop and think about that. “Well, Luke was attacking camp. Our home. What was I supposed to do? And Kronos ate his kids – I didn’t want a guy who ate his kids to rule the world.”

Catra laughed a little. “Fair. And for what it’s worth, I never wanted to attack camp. I hated fighting you.”

Adora hugged her. “I hated fighting you, too.”

Catra froze, then relaxed and slowly put her arms around Adora. After a minute, she pulled back. “Are you ready to try walking?”

Adora nodded, and Catra helped her up. They took a few steps. Adora was leaning heavily on Catra, but they could move. Catra picked up her backpack and Adora’s shield, and they made their way back to Camp Half Blood.

A little over an hour later, the camp healers had cleaned and bandaged Adora’s wounds and changed Catra’s bandages. Satisfied that they did not need any more care that night, the healers left the girls alone to sleep in the infirmary. Catra could have gone back to the Hermes cabin – the Nemesis cabin wasn’t finished yet -- but she wanted to stay with Adora. She rolled onto her side, facing Adora. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay. It doesn’t hurt so much now. You?”

“About the same.”

They lay there in silence for a moment. Then Adora asked, “Do you still want to leave camp?”

Catra thought about it. “Maybe. But I don’t want to leave you.”

Adora stretched out her hand to Catra. “Then stay, at least for a little while. Give camp a chance. Maybe it’ll get better.”

“Maybe it will.” Catra reached out to Adora, but the beds were too far apart to hold hands.

“And if you still want to leave… please don’t just run off without telling me.”

Catra got up and moved to Adora’s bed. She sat down on the edge of the bed and took Adora’s hand. “I won’t.”

Adora reached up and ran her fingers through Catra’s short, dark hair. Catra closed her eyes and leaned into her touch. “Good,” Adora whispered.

Catra felt Adora’s hand move to the back of her head and pull her closer, until their foreheads touched. “Gods, I love you,” Catra murmured.

“You love me?”

Catra’s eyes snapped open. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud. She started to pull away. “Uh – I mean –“

Adora smiled. “I love you, too.” She kissed her.


End file.
